Broken
by The Pen Vs The Sword
Summary: It's been a month since anyone had even tried to take the Master Emerald. Is Knuckles getting a bit bored? Knuckles/Rouge One-shot


**A/N: **Ok, I had a tough time deciding how to do this. At first, I thought of doing a Sonic and Rouge story or a Sonamy story. But the voices for the song sounded too mature for Sonic or Amy and the setting I kept thinking of just wasn't right for it.

Sword: So...?

So, I chose to do a Knuckles and Rouge one.

Sword: Yay!

Ok, since you're so excited, would you like to do the disclaimer?

Sword: Yep! The characters and places belong to Sega and the song that inspired it is owned by Seether. Story time now?

Yeah, story time now.

_B=_thoughts

**Broken**

Boredom. That's all that Knuckles seemed to feel now as he sat with his head leaning against the altar to the Master Emerald. It was a beautiful night with butterflies silently moving with the slight breeze. If one listened closely, one could hear the crickets chirping, the babbling brook near the edge of the forest surrounding the altar, and other nighttime animals. A gaze to the heavens would reveal millions of twinkling stars in the sky, a sight that city people couldn't even imagine.

However, the jaded echidna took all of this as a usual night and sighed as his head began to feel lethargic.

"Hmph," he snorted. "Nobody's come here for a month. No Eggman, no thief, not even batgirl." He paused. The thought of his kleptomaniac rival always brought a strange calmness to him. Of course when she was around, all he felt were headaches, both from the stress and from her kicks. Still, she did have her moments and, while he wouldn't admit it to anyone, he did enjoy her company.

A rustle in the trees broke his thoughts. He turned in the direction of the disturbance and stood in a fighting stance. "Might as well come out," he called to it. Another rustle. "Hmph, if that's you batgirl, there's no way you'll take the emerald this time!"

A bat flew out of the tree and off into the night. Knuckles lowered his fists and relaxed himself back into his sitting position. "Right species, wrong bat," he muttered.

He began humming a tune to himself that he had heard not too long ago when he had paid Sonic and Tails a visit. For some reason, when he had heard it, it reminded him of Rouge and it caused him to give the ever so smallest of smiles.

_If only she did know_, Knuckles thought. _She does have a cute laugh and a lovely voice. Wait, since when did I think those things about Rouge?_

* * *

Flying high in the midnight sky was the obsessive jewel thief herself. She had decided to fly up to the island to do some recon and see if Knuckles ever left the Master Emeral alone. If he did, then it would be hers for the taking.

She landed ever so quietly in a tree nearby and pulled out her binoculars. She could see Knuckles leaning against the shrine as if he was asleep.

"Hmm, maybe I can get to it now," she said quietly to herself. But before she could do anything, Knuckles stood up in a fighting position. "Might as well come out," she heard him say.

_Damn, how did he hear me? I was so careful_, Rouge thought.

"Hmph, if that's you batgirl, there's no way you'll take the emerald this time!" _Oh yeah? We'll see about that_. Rouge prepared to hop out of the tree when she saw a bat fly out of another one. She watched as Knuckles eyes followed it into the sky and then he sat back down.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Close one." Her ears then picked up somebody humming. Searching all around her, her eyes eventually fell on Knuckles as he started to sing. "Wow, he's not half bad."

He stopped singing for a moment and seemed to be contemplating something. "Hm, I wonder what he's thinking about?" she pondered herself as she sat on the tree's branch with her back against the trunk.

_I wish he would...Wait, where did THAT come from?_ Rouge shook her head, startled that something like that had popped up.

_Am I actually attracted to him? _Rouge shook her head. _Of course I can't be. He's stubborn, hot-headed, arrogant, rude-_

_Cute, protective, handsome, sweet...What on Mobius am I thinking?_ Rouge turned her head to Knuckles. _He does have a nice singing voice._

"Wonder if he feels that way about someone?" she said to herself. She decided that she should try to find out. But how?

That's when it hit her how. She sat up, cleared her throat, and took a breath.

* * *

Knuckles eyes immediately shot open. He looked around widely as he stood up and searched for the voice. _It's...It's...beautiful. So hauntingly beautiful,_ was all he could think. He turned in the direction of the forest.

Knuckles couldn't believe his eyes. Rouge gracefully flew down from one of the trees and landed on the ground. Knuckles could feel his jaw touching the ground as Rouge gave a small chuckle.

"Batgirl?" he asked cautiously.

"Long time, no see Knuxie. Were ya singing for me?" she asked jokingly. Knuckles blushed and turned around to hide it. "Oh c'mon, don't be like that. I was just turning it into a duet."

Knuckles just snorted. "Yeah, you probably just want the emerald."

Rouge shrugged. "Well if that's the way you feel." She spun around and started to walk off.

* * *

_That worked out well_, Rouge sarcastically thought. _What do I do now?_ She decided the only thing to do was what they had both been doing. It might get Knuckles drop the whole silent treatment.

Knuckles turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"I didn't come here to fight Knuxie."

"Then what did you come for? The emerald?"

"No, I came..." she paused. She just then realized that she had never truly intended to take the Master Emerald. Even if she had the chance, she knew she wouldn't have done it. _So why DID I come?_ She studied Knuckles as he awaited an answer and realized why she had come. Maybe she didn't know it before, but her subconcious definately did and it had chosen now to drop this bomb on her.

Still she tried to play it off as sexily and flirtatiously as she could. "Well if you haven't figured it out by now, I'm not gonna spell it out for ya." She could see Knuckles still was confused. _He's so naive, but it's so sweet and innocent, _she laughed mentally. _Guess I'll have to get used to thoughts like that._

* * *

It hit Knuckles hard, as if she had kicked him. _She isn't saying...?_ But the look in her eyes suggested she was. Knuckles' mind was a complete blank on what to do. So he simply joined in with her as they both sang.

Rouge began to fly into the air. Knuckles ran over to a nearby tree, climbed it, and jumped off as he started to glide along with Rouge.

Knuckles caught himself staring into Rouge's starlit eyes and felt himself smiling and, for the first time, feeling a warm feeling spreading throughout his entire body.

Knuckles shyly strecthed out his gloved hand until he touched the tips of Rouge's fingers._ Maybe she won't notice_, he hoped. However, she felt his touch and looked at his hand. _She'll probably slap it away._

Knuckles was surprised when he felt her wrap her hand around his. His shocked face was met by her flirtatious smile, which was contagious enough for Knuckles' face to erupt into a smile.

Knuckles and Rouge flew through the air, continuing their song, as the warmth filled both of their bodies.

If one were to have looked into the sky above Angel Island that night, one would've seen two silhouettes gliding through the sky as the full moon bathed them in it's light. If one could see well enough, one would see that they would hold hands as they crossed over the only lake on the island. And if one were to keep watching, they would see the two silhouettes come closer to each other, as if they were kissing.

**A/N: **Now, I could have made this angsty, but it seems I'm not that good at that, so I decided to do romance instead. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. And please review. Now what am I forgetting?...Oh yeah! Where are you guys? Get out here!

Pen and Sword: What? What's going on?

It's your cue!

Pen: Oh right! En garde!


End file.
